Usman fought a back-and-forth battle with the Twitter troll for four-and-a-half rounds. It was impossible to wonder why the Nigerian-American wasn’t pressing the issue.

But then, with the clock ticking down in the fifth and final round, Usman obliterated Covington with a straight right hand. Covington fell and covered-up. Usman was on top of him immediately, peppering him with punches. Seconds later, the referee stepped in with exactly 50 seconds left.

It might have been a little early, admittedly, but it was likely just a matter of time before Covington was done.

“This one’s not just for me,” Usman said. “This one’s for the whole entire world.”

With the win, Usman retained his welterweight (170 lbs.) title and will have more big paydays on the way.

That matters, of course, but beating Covington and doing it emphatically almost felt more important. Covington has been relentlessly trash-talking everyone in the welterweight division for years, often playing to the lowest common denominator and saying things that were offensive on many levels.

The American stormed out of the octagon after the loss and it’s entirely possible that he won’t be heard from for a long time.

To his credit, he fought a good fight. He won more than his fair share of striking exchanges and didn’t appear to be slowing down in the fifth round. Had the fight gone to the judges’ scorecards, it is entirely conceivable that he would have emerged victorious.

Instead, he ate a hard right hand to the chin and collapsed to the octagon floor.

“I really wanted to knock him out,” Usman said. “I said all month I was going to punish him for 24 minutes and then knock him out, and that’s what I did.”

VOLKANOVSKI PULLS OFF UPSET

You might as well book the rematch now.

Alexander Volkanovski is the new UFC featherweight champion after getting the better of Max Holloway in a back-and-forth thriller on Saturday night at UFC 245, but the margins were so small it would be crazy not to run it back.

There won’t be a fight fan in the world who doesn’t want five more rounds of this new rivalry.

Volkanovski earned a unanimous decision after perfectly executing a gameplan that involved pulverizing Holloway’s legs with kicks for the first two rounds and then playing with distance and landing more punches.

It was a composed, mature performance from Volkanovski, who burst onto the UFC scene in late-2016 and has proceeded to win eight straight in the MMA’s most prominent promotion.

Holloway, though, has been wrecking every featherweight who has been place in front of him for a couple years now. There were few people picking Volkanovski to pull off the upset.

But the Australian did just that, and his crisp striking and mature approach was more than enough to frustrate Holloway, who appeared at the top of his game.

“We’ve had great champions in this division,” Volkanovski said. “(Jose) Aldo was the greatest ever champion. Max was a great champion. I promise to be a great champion.”

The UFC would be crazy not to book a rematch as soon as possible, although they may choose to force Holloway to fight a tune-up fight or two.

It’s a safe bet that Holloway will win those. He didn’t look bad on Saturday night, he simply got beat by a world-class fighter. Maybe people didn’t realize Volkanovski deserved to be talked about in those terms prior to Saturday night, but they do now.

Eight times, she took de Randamie down. On each occasion, she took complete control.

If there was any risk for Nunes, it was when they were both standing. For one brief stretch in the second round, it even looked like de Randamie might have been doing real damage in their standup exchanges.

So what did Nunes do? She shot for a takedown and finished the round on top of her Dutch opponent, landing a couple shots but completely in control.

That same pattern repeated itself again and again for the five round fight. Yes, there was a brief 10-second stretch when de Randamie attempted a triangle submission in the fourth and had a little success, but it ultimately proved completely inconsequential.

“My game plan was to go five rounds and work the takedown,” Nunes said. “I almost got two submissions but made some mistakes and I have to fix that.”

Saturday night’s win won’t go down as one of Nunes’ all-time greats. It simply didn’t generate the excitement that her knockout wins over Ronda Rousey, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino and Holly Holm did.

But to her credit, Nunes thoroughly dominated a former featherweight champion for five rounds. She was in complete and total control of every element of the fight and never once appeared to be in trouble.

The highlights might have been few and far between, but the win should only underline the fact that Nunes is as dominant a champion as the UFC has right now.

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